Widow bequeaths $4 million to small Texas town and nursing home where husband received care

GRANDVIEW, Texas (AP) _ Wynonia Pallmeyer never lived in Grandview, but once a month for more than a decade, she drove 35 miles from her home in Fort Worth to this small town. <br/><br/>Few here knew her,

Wednesday, January 24th 2007, 5:51 am

By: News On 6


GRANDVIEW, Texas (AP) _ Wynonia Pallmeyer never lived in Grandview, but once a month for more than a decade, she drove 35 miles from her home in Fort Worth to this small town.

Few here knew her, other than those at the nursing home where her husband spent his last years. Now Pallmeyer has left a lasting mark on the town, bequeathing nearly $4 million to Grandview and the nursing home.

``I'm not surprised by her generosity _ just that she had that much money,'' said Martha Bennett, a Grandview Bank vice president.

Pallmeyer's relationship with Grandview, a town of about 1,400, began in the mid-1980s after her husband, Edward, became ill and needed long-term care. Someone referred her to the Grandview Nursing Home, a not-for-profit facility ranked among the best in Texas.

Pallmeyer was so pleased with the nursing home that she joined its board of directors and continued serving at monthly meetings more than a decade after her husband's death.

When the facility needed something _ an ice cream machine, a whirlpool, a van, money for a chapel _ Pallmeyer provided it, said administrator Barbara LeBaron.

Still, Pallmeyer never flaunted her money, friends said. Although she wore diamond jewelry and drove a Mercedes, she lived in a modest, 2,000-square-foot house built in 1959 and valued at $150,500.

Pallmeyer died in June 2005 at the age of 86. The investments she and her husband had made in real estate and mineral rights had blossomed into a $14 million estate.

With no children or other relatives, she requested in her will that three of her friends form a committee to decide how her riches would be distributed after her death.

``For some odd reason she didn't want to make those choices herself,'' said the Rev. Donnie Voss, a senior associate pastor at Fort Worth's Travis Avenue Baptist Church, where Pallmeyer was a member for decades. ``But she was clear in her intent that the money would go to charitable causes.''

Committee member Rudolph McDuff, a former Grandview mayor who knew Pallmeyer for 25 years, said she never discussed leaving her money to the town but wanted the nursing home taken care of.

The home will receive about $2 million. A check for nearly $1 million arrived last fall, after the will was finalized, and the rest was to arrive later.

``We had to look at it,'' LeBaron said with a laugh. ``To think what an effect it could have for us and that somebody could be that generous.''

The Grandview Youth Association, which has received about half of its $200,000, has already built a peewee football field. It plans to build baseball and soccer fields, as well as a pavilion to be named after Pallmeyer, board member Janet Smith said.

The town's community center, shuttered for more than a year, plans to use its $600,000 for much-needed renovations, and the library will use its $200,000 for an expansion.

``Knowing her the way I did, I knew she'd be satisfied with giving it to different groups instead of one person or organization,'' McDuff said.

Among the other beneficiaries are several universities across North Texas and a homeless shelter and a charitable foundation in Fort Worth. The other committee members were a minister at Pallmeyer's church and a neighbor.

Community leaders say Pallmeyer's legacy and what her gift will mean for Grandview _ which has an annual budget of nearly $1.4 million _ can't be underestimated.

``In Grandview we have a very small business community, and obviously they struggle for funding,'' said Robert Stewart, president and CEO of Grandview Bank. ``These gifts are going to go a long way toward taking care of the needs these organizations have.''
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